Feeding The Factory Farm
When a consumer bites into a hamburger they may not care where it comes from, but when they see chickens laying on top of each other ready to be slaughtered for their next chicken nugget they may raise their voice. The United States (US) needs more food for its ever-growing population but cannot afford to take up much more land for farming operations. This has led to institutions known as factory farms being built around the country in order to satisfy the growing demand for animal products. Factory farms are farms that have a large amount of animals confined in a small space. This could be anywhere from thirty cows on an acre lot to a couple million chickens in a single barn. These animals are being raised in less …show more content…
It is appalling that it has come down to raising animals in factory farming conditions, and there needs to be alternatives to the problem such as eating more plants, eating animals that have a better weight gain to feed ratio, and implementing …show more content…
With so much land needed for grain production less land has been left for the production of animals. This has led animals to be confined to smaller and smaller cages. When you raise a cow you have a grain to weight gain ratio of 6.1. This means that for every six pounds of grain a cow ingests it only gains one pound of weight. While it may seem that is a fair trade off but there are animals that have better grain to weight gain ratios. Such as chickens with a ratio of 2.1 or crickets with a ratio of almost 1.5 to 1 (Beef USA). While it may not be as appetizing to consume more chicken or even insects it would cut down on the need for more grain fields. This would allow for more room for animals and thus better living conditions. With this change in diet it would not only help the animals themselves but the environment suffers less when eating more poultry because they do not produce nearly as much methane as cows and pigs do (Beef USA). Methane is known to be one of the worst greenhouse gasses produced by animals.
With so much needing to be changed it can seem like a daunting task to change factory farming for the better. Some may argue that it will be hard to change factory farming without increasing food prices. Well it may increase food prices a little but, it should be considered worth it to improve the living conditions of the animals.
When a consumer bites into a hamburger they may not care where it comes from, but when they see chickens laying on top of each other ready to be slaughtered for their next chicken nugget they may raise their voice. The United States (US) needs more food for its ever-growing population but cannot afford to take up much more land for farming operations. This has led to institutions known as factory farms being built around the country in order to satisfy the growing demand for animal products. Factory farms are farms that have a large amount of animals confined in a small space. This could be anywhere from thirty cows on an acre lot to a couple million chickens in a single barn. These animals are being raised in less …show more content…
It is appalling that it has come down to raising animals in factory farming conditions, and there needs to be alternatives to the problem such as eating more plants, eating animals that have a better weight gain to feed ratio, and implementing …show more content…
With so much land needed for grain production less land has been left for the production of animals. This has led animals to be confined to smaller and smaller cages. When you raise a cow you have a grain to weight gain ratio of 6.1. This means that for every six pounds of grain a cow ingests it only gains one pound of weight. While it may seem that is a fair trade off but there are animals that have better grain to weight gain ratios. Such as chickens with a ratio of 2.1 or crickets with a ratio of almost 1.5 to 1 (Beef USA). While it may not be as appetizing to consume more chicken or even insects it would cut down on the need for more grain fields. This would allow for more room for animals and thus better living conditions. With this change in diet it would not only help the animals themselves but the environment suffers less when eating more poultry because they do not produce nearly as much methane as cows and pigs do (Beef USA). Methane is known to be one of the worst greenhouse gasses produced by animals.
With so much needing to be changed it can seem like a daunting task to change factory farming for the better. Some may argue that it will be hard to change factory farming without increasing food prices. Well it may increase food prices a little but, it should be considered worth it to improve the living conditions of the animals.